Process of treating ores.



PATENTED FEB. 13, 1906.

E. W gRNQLD. PROCESS OF TREATING 035s.

APPLICATION TILED SEPT- l. 1906.

UNITE. earns earns errors.

ERNEST W. ARNOLD, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGN OR OF ONE- HALF TO VICTQIt SELNA, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

FnocEslsoF TREATING case.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

, Patented Feb. 13, 1906.

- Application filed September 14,1905. SerialNo. 278,376.

1 them free-milling or free-smelting. The

methods usually employed are often tedious and unsatisfactory, requiring considerable .time and expense and resulting in more or less loss of metal or a more or less incomplete reduction. I have discovered that the reduction is. more rapid, satisfactory, and complete ifin addition to the roasting and at the same time that the roasting is going on and with the ore at a proper tern erature a blast of chlorin gas or a mixture 0 chlorin gas and charcoal-fumes is directed against the. incan-v descent body of ore.

The drawing represents an apparatus suitable for racticing my invention.

Usual y ores containing sulfurets, arsenic, antimony, galena, and certainiother substances are not free milling or free-smelting, but require to be roasted before they will readily or economically yield up their metal- In practicing mg lic values, such as gold, silver, cop er, or iron. invention I ta e the rock just as it comes om the mine and after having it run through a rock-crusher to reduce it to about egg size andsubject it to a roasting heat to gradually bring it to incandescence. This is the common practice and results in a very considerable reduction of the ore; but I have discovered if a blast of chlorin gas or, better, a mixture of chlorin gas and charcoalfumes under suitable pressure is directed upon and into the body of incandescent orejust before its discharge from the furnace that the chlorin or chlorin and charcoal-fumes attack the baser substances of the ore and leave the precious or other unfused metals f bri ht and pure and readily removable.

the furnace shown in the drawing the ore is fed in at a suitable point, as2, upon the incline 3, whence is is delivered into the drum 4;. The latter is slightly inclined toward its lower end and is of any appropriate size. The Interior is lined with fire-brick or like infusible material. It is suitably mounted to rotate and is driven by appropriate means, as ind'icated at 5. The drum is open at both ends, and an oil-burner 6 is disposedat the lower end of/ the apparatus, adapted to dischar e into the drum and to furnish the necessary heat to roast the ore properly. The upper end of the drum opens nto the smoke-stack 7 through which the vapors driven off by the roasting process escape. Suitably arranged adjacent to the discharge end of the drum is a pipe or nozzle 8, through which a blast of chlorin gas or a, mixture of chlorin gas and charcoal-. fumes may be directed upon the body of ore just before it drops from the drum into the discharge-chute 9.

The drum is usually about thirty feet in length and about twenty inches-in diameter, and its rate of rotation and the heat from the burner 6 are such that the ore willtake about an hour to traverse the drum from end to end and to become raised to a temperature of incandescence by or before the time it is ready to be discharged from the drum. The gas from the nozzle or nozzles 8 is delivered under a pressure approximately'of two atmospheres, more or less. The rotat on of the} drum keeps the ore constantly agitated, so that the heat and gas have every opportunity of penetrating to all portions of the ore.

This construction of furnace perm !s the-\ process to be operated continuously and- I- have used the same and have practised my process with gratifying results as compared with the old process Where the chlorin blast is not used. 7 7

Where I use a ,m'xture of chlorin gas and charcoal-fumes I, euiploy about sixty-fiveper cent. chlorin to thirty-five per cent. of the charcoal-fumes.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patcut is 1 The treatmelpt of refractory ores which oomprehends the casting of the ore to incandescence, and the irection of-a blast impreg' nated with chlorin gas against and into the body of ore, while in an incandescent state. 2. The treatment of refractory ores which comprehends the heating of the ore to incandesccnce, and thedirection of a blast of chlol rin gas and charooal-fumes upon and into 21 a, blast of a suitable hydrocarbon into and 5 cence by dlrecting a biast'of a suitable hydrocarbon thexeagainst, and thenimpregnating the incandescent ore with chlorin as.

4. The treatment of'refractory ores which comprehends heating the ore to incandes cence and while it is in motion by directing against said ore, and then impregnating, the incandescent ore w1th gas and charcoal-fumes.

I5 5; The treatment of refrectory ores which a, mixture of chiofinv emme eomprehends the heating of 2V body of ore to ince'ndescence "by directing into and against the ore a blast of a suitable hydrocarbon, and impregnating the incandescent ore with a mixture of ch-lorin gas and charcoal -fumes,

in the proportion of about two parts of chl0- j rm to one part of charcoal-fumes.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing-wi t nessiesf I ERNEST W, ARNOLD.

Witnesses:

S. H. NOURSE, I

T, CASTBERG. 

